Israel ready to stop pursuing wanted Fatah fighters

The list was forwarded to the Palestinian authorities on Friday evening, the official added.

Along with a prisoner release, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had asked Prime Minister Erhud Olmert in April that Israel stop pursuing certain members of his Fatah party.

Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin confirmed to AFP that the question "was being studied" between the two leaders, without elaborating.

Citing unidentified security sources, Israel's army radio also reported that the Jewish state had "accepted to stop pursuing some 180" Fatah activists.

Israel had accepted the request on condition that the Fatah members remain for three months in the West Bank, said a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a Fatah offshoot.

The West Bank is under the complete control of the Palestinian Authority, despite the Islamist movement Hamas's seizure last month of the Gaza Strip.

Among the names on the list is Zakaria Zubeidi, a commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

Israel is believed to be making gestures of support for Fatah in order to reinforce the Palestinian president in his standoff with Hamas after the Islamists' violent takeover of the Gaza Strip on June 15 drew sharp international condemnation.

Army radio also reported that Olmert would meet Abbas on Monday in the West Bank town of Jericho.

The last meeting between the two leaders was on June 25 at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, where Olmert announced the release of some funds due to the Palestinian Authority.

Some 118 million dollars have been made available to the emergency Palestinian government of prime minister Salam Fayyad. Olmert has also said Israel will release 250 Fatah prisoners.

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